Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The View from the Cheap Seats

So, you might have heard that Amanda Jean and Cheryl wrote a book. It's really, really good. It is purportedly flying off the shelves. And I was lucky enough to go to Quilt Market in Kansas City to witness these two fantastic ladies in their element. It was a joy to watch.

Sunday Morning Quilts--book signing in the United Notions booth

Now, I didn't really have any business being there. But who was I to pass up the opportunity to be a fly on the wall? I drove out with the amazing Angela of Mama Said Sew, here in Fort Collins. If you live under a rock and haven't heard, the Sweetwater family of designers debuted their next fabric line, named after Ange's shop. That. Is. So. Stinking. Cool.
These ladies were so sweet(their design company is so aptly named!) and cute and I could have happily packed them up to take home with us. They're going to give Angela scraps to make some shop samples and I will gleefully go pick those up in Fort Morgan. It's possible that I'm the first person ever to have any level of excitement about traveling to that town!

Angela in the Sweetwater booth with Lisa and Susan

mama said sew candy--yum!

So I got to meet some pretty fantastic people. Jacquie Gehring of Tallgrass Prairie Studio was there promoting her new book, Quilting Modern. She pretty much rocks. I read her blog and see her quilts, and I always think that this is a woman who takes her art very seriously. She couldn't have been more charming and personable. We are in the planning stages, but she will be here in Fort Collins in August for a trunk show!

Rashida Coleman-Hale was there promoting Zakka Style and her fabric line, Washi. I might now be her biggest fan. She came to dinner with us on Saturday night as well as Rae of Made by Rae. It's pretty cool to have a friend like Amanda, because otherwise I wouldn't have rubbed my elbows raw hobnobbing with the cool kids!

Denyse Schmidt was there with her first ever market booth. She signed a copy of her book for me, and I shoved my phone in her face to show her my "eating in bed" quilt out of Flea Market Fancy. She was incredibly gracious about the whole thing. And I might have thanked her for coming just so we could stand in her presence. Tongue in cheek, of course. I'm anxiously awaiting Chicopee; she has such a great aesthetic that really resonates with me.

I was literally teary as I talked Angela into buying some(read: 12 bolts!) of Suzuko Koseki's prints for the shop from Yuwa. I could have happily spent all of her money in this single booth. I want to swim in it. I already have plans to make this dress out of the red Shasta daisy print as soon as it comes in. You can see pictures of all the prints that she's gonna carry here in my Flickr photostream!

Liberty of London is releasing a new line of quilting cottons that are gorgeous! We chose two of the five color ways. I'm so glad that Angela has good taste! And, if in the not too distant future, they release charm packs of their Tana Lawns, that was my idea. You can thank me later.

The Kokka booth was full to over flowing with eye candy! These texty penguins cracked me up! We got the new echinos, Melody Miller's new line and a bunch of other stuff that is drool worthy! Our timing at the Kokka booth coincided with Katy, Brioni, and Tascha walking by, so they stopped to help. They have good taste too.

And, while I'm a little late for the hexagon craze, I bought some hexy papers on our road trip and Amanda taught me how to English paper piece while standing in line for an hour waiting to eat some fantastic BBQ at Oklahoma Joe's. This will become a pillow, because I prefer to machine sew hexagons, but this technique rocks!

So, that's it folks. There is so much more to say, but others took more pictures, and I'm all out. Though you should all go read the story of how I touched David Butler's arm in a very "How I Met Your Mother" moment over on Jane'sJana's blog!

I am so glad you had such a great time! One day I would love to go see all of the hoopla that is there. I loved your recap, and I am going to have to make a field trip up that way to visit Sew Mama Sew soon to see all of that beautiful fabric.;)